1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to floor panels, a floor covering composed thereof, and a method for manufacturing such floor panels.
2. Related Art
More particularly, the invention relates to floor panels, which are intended for forming a floating floor covering and which, when being installed, can be coupled to each other at their edges by means of mechanical coupling parts, whether or not made in one piece with the floor panel, which coupling parts provide for a mutual locking of the floor panels in horizontal as well as in vertical direction, for example, as described in the international patent applications WO 94/26999, WO 97/47834, WO 01/98603 and WO 01/96688.
In the meantime, it is also known to realize such floor panels in such a manner that they, when being coupled, show gaps, bevels or other chamfers at their edges. To this aim, reference is made to WO 2007/113676 and the already mentioned WO 01/96688, respectively. It is noted that in the case of bevels, the same kind of floor panel, which means, for example, a natural varnished oak floor panel of the same manufacturer, is offered both with and without a bevel in order to accommodate the different likings of the client. The same duplication of the number of products seems necessary when floor panels with or without gaps have to be offered.
From WO 2005/124052, it is known in the meantime to realize the coupling means of wall and ceiling panels in such a manner that they can be coupled to each other in two different manners, wherein then, depending on the manner of coupling, a recess is or is not present between the edges of both wall or ceiling panels. A similar system is presented by the present applicant in the international patent application PCT/IB2007/003310, which had not yet been published when the present application was filed. Such systems, however, have the disadvantage that the manner of coupling and, thus, the presence or absence of a recess or a gap between the panels, is left to the user when installing each panel. Such system is time-consuming, as it hampers the smoothness with which such panels can be installed. Moreover, such system may induce installation faults. Also, with such system it is difficult to obtain a gap of limited size.